Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-09-30
A SURGEONS LIFE.
A Page or Two From the Experience Of q
Famous PhysIcIan

|
Famous Physician.
l have always maintained that IL Is
impossible for any man to bo great
surgeon il he Is destitute. even In con.
siderable degree, of the finer feelings of
our nature. have often lain awake for
hours the night before an important
operation, and suffered great mental dis
tress for days after it was over, until |
was certain that my patient was out Of
danger. l do not think that it is pos
sible for n criminal to feel much worse
the night before his execution than
surgeon when he knows that upon his
skill and attention must depend the
fate of valuable citizen, husband,
father, mother or child. Surgery under
such circumstances is a terrible task
master, feeding like / vulturo upon a
mans vitals. 1t is surprising that any
surgeon in large practice should ever
attain to respectable old age, so great
are the wear and tear Of mind and body.
The world has seen many Il sad pict-
ure. l will draw one Of the surgeon.
1t is midday; the sun is bright and beau
tiful; al! nature is redolont of Joy; men
and women crowd the street, arrayed
In their best, and all, apparently, is
peace and happiness within and with
out. In large house, almost over
hanging this street so full of life and
gayety, lies upon couch an emaciated
figure, once one of the sweetest and
loveliest Of her sex, confding and af-
fectionate wife, and the adored mother
of numerous children, the subject OF a
frightful disease Of one of her limbs, or.
1t may be, Of her jaw, II not Of still |
more important part Of her body. In |
an adjoining room is the surgeon, with
his assistants, spreading out his instru-
ments and getting things in readiness
for the impending operation. He as
signs to each his appropriate place.
One administers chloroform; another
takes charge Of the limb; one screws
down the tourniquet upon the principal
artery, and another holds himself In |
readiness to follow the knife with the |
sponge. The flaps are soon formed,
the bone severed, the vessels tied, and
the huge wound approSimated. The
woman is pale and ghastly, the pulse
hardly perceptible, the skin wet with
clammy perspiration, the voice hushed,
the sight indlstinct, Some one whis-
pers into the ear of the busy surgeon
THE patient, l fear, is dying" Re
storatives are administered, the pulse
rises, and after few hours
Of hard work and terrible anxiety reac-
ton occurs. The poor woman was only
faint. from the joint influence OF the
shock and loss of blood An
assistant, kind of sentinel, Is placed
MS a guard over her, with instructions
10 watch her with the closest care, and
TO send word the moment the slightest
change for the worse is perceived.
The surgeon goes about his business,
visits other patients on the way, and at
length, long after the usual hour, he
sits down, worried and exhausted. to
his cold and comfortless meal, with q
mouth almost as dry and a voice as
husky as his patients He eats me-
exchanges hardly a word
with any member Of his family. and
retires to his study, to pre-
scribe for his paticnts--never, during
Ill this time, forgetting the poor mutt
ated object he left few hours ago.
lie is about to lie down to get mo-
nents repose after the severe toll of
he day, when suddenly ho hears a
oud ring of the bell and servant,
1reathless with excitement, begs his
presence at the sick chamber
With the exclamation: "They think
Mrs. - is dying" He hurries to the
icene with rapid pace and anxious feel
ng. The stump is of crimson color,
md the patient lies in a profound
iwoon. An artery has suddenly given
way. the exhaustion is extremei cor
lials and stimulants are at once
brought into requisition, the dressings